Episode 284: Prayer & Meditation for the Actor
Acting Business Boot Camp
So today I actually, I've been just so intensely busy with so many different things and I was in New York City today and one of the things I used to do when I was in New York more than I am now is I would go into churches and I just happened to pass by an old church that I usually would go into and I just walked in. And it was quiet, quiet. And I have been noticing this past, I don't know, week, that my mind has been racing a lot. Just tons and tons of talk and nothing negative. Just very busy. And it's disrupted my sleep and it's been so unpleasant. And then I went...
info_outline
Episode 283: The Benefit of Wisdom for the Actor
Acting Business Boot Camp
Today, I'm going to talk about the subject of Wisdom. Wisdom is my favorite word in the American language. God, do I love Wisdom. The reason why I love Wisdom is because Wisdom gives me power. And sometimes it isn't even the power of knowledge, but the power of knowing what to do. And I don't have any script for this podcast or guidance for this podcast. I'm just talking to you about this subject because it is truly just the thing that I crave more of. This past week I turned another year older. I help people to adjust their thoughts and their lives to work for...
info_outline
Episode 282: Perfectionism and You!
Acting Business Boot Camp
Now I wouldn't say that I would sometimes call myself Peter Pamela Perfectionism Rose, but sometimes I've called myself Peter Pamela Perfectionism Rose. The biggest thing about perfectionism that I want to talk about today is that perfectionism leads to procrastination, leads to paralysis. The other thing that I think is so important about the lesson of perfectionism is to make your ears grow bigger, cunning, baffling, and powerful. I look at all the ways, in fact even this too, recording today's podcast, I was looking for the right time to do it. But do you know what the right...
info_outline
Episode 281: Taking Risks
Acting Business Boot Camp
Today I'm going to be talking about something that I have been doing recently, which I've been really taking risks. It's been real. It's been an adventure. And I've said to myself, I remember earlier this year, I was in a foreign country. I was driving in a foreign country, on the opposite side of the road. And I went in my car. It was late at night and I'd been traveling for a while and I just said to myself, You are so brave. You are so brave. And I think one of the things that I've learned in taking risks is really to encourage, be your own cheerleader while you're doing it. ...
info_outline
Episode 280: Vulnerability & the Actor
Acting Business Boot Camp
Today, I'm going to talk about something that I've been feeling recently—vulnerability. Yeah. Vulnerability. Just feeling a little tender. Now, the thing I always think about with vulnerability is vulnerability and emotional availability is two of the greatest assets that actors can have. All I have to say about that is that can also be like your cross to bear, as it were when dealing with the industry. Because as an actor, as an artist, we wear our hearts on our sleeves. But how I like to approach the business is the business. When I go in there, I do my work, my...
info_outline
Episode 279: Nepotism and Grandiosity
Acting Business Boot Camp
I'm going to be talking about something that a listener sent me, and I thought it was a really interesting idea for a podcast, which is about nepotism. I do think it is yet another one of those areas of the industry where we can get our heads in the clouds and not on our bodies, and really allows us to make excuses for not showing up and taking responsibility. As a NEPO baby, I am not one. I do not come from anyone in the industry. You have an advantage in that you have those connections. However, you also have to have the talent, consistency, and persistence to back that up. The other thing...
info_outline
Episode 278: Interview with Casting Director Angela Mickey
Acting Business Boot Camp
About Angela Mickey: Angela Mickey is the Managing Director of Casting at Liz Lewis Casting Partners, and has been working as a Casting Director for 24 years. Angela works across the board on commercial, voice-over, film, TV, and theater projects, with a concentration on comedy, real people, and theatrical casting. She enjoys working with both veteran and up-and-coming creatives, developing the best, unique plan for each project, and working as a partner to the producing process. Recent on-camera commercial projects: Spectrum, UberEats, DCU, Blue...
info_outline
Episode 277: Are You Stuck?
Acting Business Boot Camp
So, this week, I've received numerous emails from actors who have told me that they feel stuck. That's why I was like, if they're feeling it, maybe I should do a podcast about feeling stuck. So we're going to get to that. Being stuck. I think being stuck has a lot to do, at least for me, about timing. Generally, it always comes down to timing—not my timing; it's the Universe's timing. And then that sometimes just doesn't work. If I'm not in the greatest place, that frustrates me even more because I'm like, “Why not now?” “Why not now? What the fuck is...
info_outline
Episode 276: Musical Theatre with David Cady
Acting Business Boot Camp
About David Cady: DAVID CADY is currently a professor of commercial and musical theatre performance at AMDA, NYU, and Pace University. Prior, he was a casting director for Donna DeSeta Casting for close to 30 years. In addition to countless commercials, his casting credits include the original Dirty Dancing, Disney's Enchanted, Michael John LaChiusa's The Petrified Prince for the Public Theater, and the world premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman's Whistle Down the Wind, directed...
info_outline
Episode 275: New Beginnings of Spring
Acting Business Boot Camp
I don't know about you, 2024 is not exactly what I expected it would be in this industry. And, I'm after the strikes and, after everything we went through last year, seriously? This is it? Now, of course, there are reasons for this. There's the potential IATSE strike and the industry contraction. But the problem is that I don't know about you, but I'm left with feelings. And I thought that, since we just moved our clocks, I thought I would make this episode about spring and new beginnings. In fact, I had friends over for dinner the other night, and my dear friend brought me...
info_outlineSo today, we are going to talk about goals for the first quarter of 2024.
January through March 31st is the first quarter of the year.
We are setting 3 to 5 goals for the first quarter of 2024.
Now, the other thing is that if you do the full yearly goals, you could break that down a little bit, baby-stepping into that first quarter.
But what I want you to be thinking of is the first of the year through March 31st.
That's where I want your focus to be because it's a much more bite-sized piece to apply your goals to and your positive thoughts and actions towards.
I want to give you some questions to think about:
The first question is, with these goals that you have, where do you feel you are at in achieving them?
Talk about what you've done in the past and where that has brought you.
And then the next thing I want you to ask yourself is, looking at where you are at in achieving them and what you've done in the past, how has that made you feel?
What are your emotions around it?
If you're sick and tired of being sick and tired, you will change.
Now, the reason why I asked you where are you at in achieving them and how does that make you feel because if you did write something down, "I feel like I've let myself down, I feel like I just keep procrastinating, I feel like I'm such a loser…"
I want you right now to feel that pain. I want you to feel it.
I want you to get uncomfortable. I want you to recognize all of those things that you just said. Why? Not because I'm some masochist. No, but because I want to get you to change. If you're sick and tired of being sick and tired, you'll change.
And then I was hoping you could write this: Today is the first day of the rest of my life.
There's that wonderful phrase "Do something today that yourself in year from now will thank you for."
Use your mind to govern your brain.
Perfectionism leads to procrastination leads to paralysis.
Now, I have one more journal question for you:
How do you feel when you do not do what you said you were going to do?
When you have a thought, that thought leads to an emotion and then to an action. Which then goes back to reiterating that initial thought.
I want you now to make three columns.
I want you to put one of your goals in the first column.
So you're going to put down one of your goals.
And then, in the second column, I want you to write down some thoughts that support that goal.
So, if my goal is to be a working actor, the thought or thoughts that you would want to write in that second column are I am a successful working actor.
I go from success to success in my acting career.
I love myself, and I approve of myself.
So some good positive affirmations around that goal. Because your thoughts need to back up that goal.
What else needs to back up that goal? Your actions.
So, I want you to take a look at whatever that goal is, and I want you to think of one to three small actions that you can take towards that goal.
What's your goal?
What are the thoughts that support the goal?
What are the baby actions that you can take towards supporting that goal?
And that is the secret to success.
It's your thoughts, and your actions must back up what you want.
I want you to go back now and look at your goals, and I want you to put next to them, whether they are a habit goal or an achievement goal.
So let's say I want to take a vacation in 2024, a two-week vacation in 2024. You need to save up for that. That's an achievement goal.
But let's say you want to practice your voice five times a week for half an hour each one of those times. That is a habit goal.
So take a moment and review all the goals you have written down and write down if they are habits or achievement.
I want you to look at each one of your goals, and I want you to ask yourself, is it a goal that is actually achievable or attainable by the end of the quarter?
Or is it a quarter/year project?
It should make you just a little uncomfortable.
If you babystep your goals enough so that those baby steps are something that you eagerly put yourself forward to do that help you to move in that direction, that is something that is great.
Again, that is great because it builds self-esteem. It builds confidence.
Now, I want you to look at your goals and I want you to ask yourself questions about them.
What is my motive for making my first goal, second goal, third goal happen for me?
What will I get out of making it happen? What is my motive?
We do things because there is something in it for us. And it's okay to be selfish.
When you get to those times when you really do not feel like doing the action step for your goal, you can remind yourself what your motive is.
And that's when you can really start asking yourself. How bad do I want it?
I consider that question to be the secret ingredient.
I operate like this all the time because not every single day do I feel like doing things towards my goals.
But when I remind myself what my motive is, I remind myself how it's going to feel when I achieve it. Ooh, baby, that lights a fire under my ass.